Intrinsically Good magic, and motives over ends (Fwd from OTC)

[innermurk]

No: HPFGUIDX 59226

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Amy Z" <lupinesque at y...> wrote:
 Let's say Lily's 
> sacrifice was pure love, unmarred by any other motives.  Just the 
> same, fourteen years later, Cedric Diggory died because her son 
> lived.  No Harry, no Harry in the TWT, no reason for Cedric to 
stray 
> across the path of Voldemort.  Yeah, Voldemort would probably have 
> been in power for those fourteen years and heaven knows what would 
> have happened to the Diggorys; maybe Cedric would've died anyway, 
> when the DEs blew up his house when he was 5, say.  But what we 
*do* 
> know is that in *this* timeline, Cedric died because he had the bad 
> luck to be in the same place as Harry Potter.
> 
> So we may be able to say that on balance Lily's sacrifice 
> accomplished more good than evil (though only the gods can know), 
but 
> we can't say it accomplished only good.
> 


I innermurk would like to reply:
You can't say that Cedric died *because* of Harry, or *because* he 
was in the same place as Harry Potter. If he had gotten to the cup 
first and was whisked away to the graveyard, he would most likely 
have been killed anyway. And Harry wouldn't have been there. He would 
have died, not being in the same place as Harry.
Harry does blame himself for this, as he shares your viewpoint on the 
matter. That is, that Cedric died because of him. BUT, DD very 
clearly points out that Cedric died because he was unlucky enough to 
be in the same place as *Voldemort* 

He died because *Voldemort* wanted him to. 

Harry had little to nothing to do with it. Voldemort was after Harry, 
yes, but as you point out, if Harry had died and he wasn't even in 
the equation, Cedric would most likely have perished already. 

In light of how intricately every choice we make interacts with 
everyone else, I don't think you can say that one choice was good or 
bad because down the line it affected so and so this way, or so and 
so that way. It has to be more of an immediate thing IMO.
It has to be a *direct* result of *that particular choice* and *that 
choice only* or else there is no way to judge it fairly.

Harry had the distinct choice to take the cup himself, or let Cedric 
have it. Cedric had those choices too. I would say that these choices 
were what affected the death of Cedric, much more than Lily's choice 
to save her son.
Crouch!Moody had the choice to find and follow V, and had the choice 
to put Harry's name in the goblet. These choices affected Cedric's 
death more than Lily's choice.
Everyone who helped Harry to get a headstart into the maze by giving 
him clues and help on the previous tasks made that choice to do so, 
and affected the outcome more than Lily did.
There are multitudes of other choices that were made along the way 
affecting Harry, Cedric, Voldemort, Dumbledore, the Ministry, the 
Tournament, and in fact *everyone* that weigh in more heavily than 
Lily's choice to save her son.

So, I don't believe you can judge that her choice was good or bad on 
the fact of Cedric's death.

And it *was not* Harry's fault that Cedric died.

JMO,
Innermurk